- Sue-ann Venter, 38, Rolleston, NZ was sound asleep when she felt a strong pressure on her chest
- Through the dust and debris she realised she was trapped underneath a car that had driven into her home
- Her husband was able to lift the car and free the trapped mum
Here she tells her own story in her own words.
Pulling the covers up tight, I turned to my husband Llewellyn, 37. ‘Have a good sleep,’ I mumbled, curling up under the doona.
It was around 9pm on Friday March 14, 2025, and after a big week at work as a picker and packer in a warehouse, I was exhausted. We had plans to take it easy and relax with our kids, Chanel, 17, and Zander, eight, the following day.
Drifting off, I woke up at 3.43am to an extreme pressure pushing down on my stomach. What the? I thought.
My eyes flew open as my brain tried to make sense of what was going on in the darkness.
Muted white and red light filled the room, and I could see plaster dust floating in the air.
‘I’m going to die, I panicked, as I screamed desperately for help’
‘Sue-ann!’ Llewellyn screamed, over and over.
I tried to speak, as the pressure on my body grew stronger.
‘It’s pushing me down,’ I wailed. But I wasn’t sure what it was.
I’m going to die, I panicked, as I screamed desperately for help.
Seconds later I felt Llewellyn’s hand on mine, as he dragged me off the bed. Suddenly the pressure lifted from my chest, and I was on my feet as Llewellyn helped me stand.
Our bed was buried beneath an overturned car that’d flipped onto its right side. Our walls, bed frame and bedside tables had been reduced to rubble.
‘We have to run,’ Llewellyn, who was covered in white dust, said – terrified the engine would blow.
The kids! I fretted.
I felt no pain as we shuffled as quickly as we could down the hallway to the kids’ rooms.
Thankfully, they were okay.
They’d woken to the sound of the crash and we all headed out the front door, on the other side of the house.
Out the front, around 20 neighbours had gathered to check we were okay. One was already on the phone with emergency services.
As shock set in, someone covered me, Llewellyn and the kids with blankets.
Just then, the driver, who managed to escape the wreckage, stumbled over to us.
‘I’m sorry,’ he said.
Thankfully, he was the only person in the car.
READ MORE: Buried alive: ‘I had to dig myself out to survive!’
Within 10 minutes police, firefighters and ambos arrived.
While police took the driver to one side, Llewellyn and I were loaded into ambulances, before being taken to Christchurch Hospital.
Neighbours offered to mind Chanel and Zander.
Waves of pain suddenly hit me. My right wrist was swelling and I hoped it wasn’t broken.
My head throbbed and my chest felt tender from where I’d been pinned down.
At hospital I had a CAT scan, X-rays and an ultrasound to check for internal bleeding. Llewellyn was checked over too.
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While we waited for results, Llewellyn held me tight as he recounted how, after getting up to use the bathroom, he’d just slid back into bed when he heard tyres screeching.
‘I heard rumbling, like a massive thunderstorm rolling in and it just got louder before it ploughed through the wall,’ he told me, explaining the car had flipped and the rear right wheel had been crushing my chest.
Freeing himself from the crumpled wooden door frame, where he’d been thrown from the bed, Llewellyn fumbled through bricks and broken glass to search for me.
‘I could only see your legs poking out from under the car,’ he said, fighting back tears. ‘I thought you were dead.’
‘Llewellyn managed to push the car up with one hand, while pulling me free with the other’
I must’ve momentarily blacked out before waking to the sound of his voice frantically calling for me.
Summoning all his strength, Llewellyn managed to push the car up with one hand, while pulling me free with the other.
‘I’m here,’ I told him, ‘because of you.’
It felt like a miracle when, three hours later, I was given the all clear to go home. Apart from some bruising on my right arm, small cuts and abrasions, and a lump on my head, I was okay.
Llewellyn had a concussion, whiplash and back muscle contusions.
Arriving back home that morning and seeing the rubble piled up on the bed, I couldn’t believe we’d survived. The car was now gone leaving a gaping hole in our bedroom wall.
Bricks from the back wall of the house had been flung so hard from the force of the impact, that they were lodged in the opposite wall.
The house was so badly damaged we had to find another rental. At night I’d shake all over, reliving the horror.
In November 2025, the driver, Himamsu Dhungel, 36, pleaded guilty to a charge of a breath alcohol level over 400 mcgs and two charges of careless operation causing injury.
He was given a seven-month disqualification of driving, fined $750 and ordered to pay reparations of $5000.
Fourteen months on, I’m thankful we’re still here to see our beautiful kids Chanel, now 18, and Zander, nine, grow up.
Llewellyn is my biggest support. I’ll never forget the night he became my real-life superhero.
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